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Penderghast
Penderghast is a Forsaken warrior. Appearance Penderghast walks and runs hunched over with an erratic, skulking gait. Moths flutter in and out of holes in his armor; the armor itself is rusty, dented, and covered in the sort of stains one typically avoids examining too closely, lest one recognize the tell-tale signs of a neighbor's missing lapdog or the unmistakable remnants of beloved great-aunt Ednis. His face — presumably what's left of it — is always hidden behind a hood or helm. His original height, build, age, and even race are impossible to determine, worn away by undeath and the passage of time. Penderghast's odor ranges from horrific to tolerably unpleasant; on bad days, horses are known to spook long before he approaches. The reason for this fluctuation is unclear until one sees him produce a revolting chunk of rotten meat, organ, or indeterminate ichor from his person, which he will then proceed to eat in front of everyone or solicitously offer to another person as a gift. Personality It is immediately clear upon meeting Penderghast that he is completely unhinged. He consistently refers to himself in the third person, forgets important details about his past and the world in general, and often expresses a strong desire to devour other people's internal organs at random intervals during otherwise normal conversations. He greets "friends" and passers-by by sniffing them (or, less desirably, by licking them). Although he is nearly impossible to physically startle, he often responds to unexpected stimuli by emitting loud, piercing shrieks and then calmly resuming his previous activities as if nothing out of the ordinary has just transpired. Needless to say, he is rather difficult to engage in coherent discourse, but even so he occasionally exhibits flashes of surprising insight that hint at the rational, intelligent person he used to be before his undeath. If questioned about his habit of hiding his face, his answers suggest that he is either paranoid or driven by vanity. As unlikely as the latter seems, he has admitted on occasion that he was a vain man in life, and it is possible that the thought of his own ghastly visage, in a grotesque parody of his former personality, awakens some latent instinct within him to look presentable. Not that he ever succeeds. Moth infestation Penderghast is very attached to the moths that inhabit his long-decayed body. He gives each of them names and painstakingly introduces them to every new person he meets, willing or otherwise. Every once in a while he proclaims that he is feeling the moth larvae squirming around in his bodily cavities with unusual vigor; this tends to coincide with moments where he is more likely than usual to be experiencing an emotion. Notable moths *Moonwings: A specimen of terrible beauty and awesome power; sometimes referred to as the Great Progenitor and the Devourer of Men. Moonwings is a small white moth who is clearly getting on in years. *Dustwings: The glorious spawn of Moonwings, her firstborn progeny; a fearsome force in her own right. Dustwings is a somewhat misshapen-looking female Imperial Moth. *Harold: Penderghast does not have much to say about Harold. Past Like many Forsaken, Penderghast appears to remember little of his life before awakening from the grips of the Scourge. He has claimed on several occasions, however, that he was once a skilled alchemist; that he was vain and narcissistic; and also that few people liked him, with the opposite being equally true. It is unclear whether these details are real or imagined. Category:Forsaken Category:Undead Category:Characters Category:Warriors